Comments on: It's Not Just An Affair (Part 1)

By: BJ

BJ — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:21:54 +0000

Yeah, I see Suzanne as creepy/cloying as well, and she's so perky that I'd like to drive a nail through her head. Maybe because she reminds me of some elementary school supervisors who thought they had to be up! And happy! and carefree! all the time, as though little kids couldn't see how fake and patronizing such an attitude is.

I don't see her as a bunny boiler, but her coyness mixed with her come ons ('Oh, you horrible man, you want to have an affair with me/ Hey, let's have an affair!") sends me up a wall. Like at the end of the eclipse scene, where she tells Don off for flirting with her, then bends down to see through an eclipse box. On one level, she could be telling Don "Kiss my butt.", and on another, she could be saying "Look at me! You know you want some of this, right?"

So yes, I could see how the writers might like her, but this two face attitude is intensely irritating. She may be playing Don like a fish, trying to angle herself into becoming the second (third?) Mrs. Donald Draper, but I hope we've seen the last of her.

By: Dark Peggy

Dark Peggy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:08:56 +0000

I'm very behind on my reading and comments, but this was a very interesting piece and I think you really helped to solidify some of my thinking on this one. I think the eclipse interaction between Don and Suzanne really made the relationship feel awkward and somewhat unpleasant. Actually all of their interactions seemed very off. In some ways I found her to be as creepy as I found Henry Francis (and I still don't see the attractation, sorry). Both Ms. F and Mr. F seemed a little off to me, especially in terms of interacting very inappropriately with people in situations when those people were clearly off-limits.

I also strongly agree with # 31 Emi and the points about class later in the thread.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:41:27 +0000

I don't know if I was expecting the wrong thing. I'm not sure how I was meant to take Suzanne. It seemed to me that she was being set up as some kind of kind, nurturing earth mother, but that's not what I saw. Her only concern for her students seemes to be in projecting her own sad childhood onto them – she wasn;t above completely ignoring them for her inapproporiate conversation with Don in front of them at the park. She instsied on making Don meet her brother when he made it clear he was uncomfortable with it. She berated him for coming onto her when he hadn't even done so. Then there was the train stalking.

Was this what we were meant to see, or were we meant to see the May Queen? I'm normally fine with some ambiguity, but I just can't help feeling that something fell flat.

one jarring thing about Suzanne was that the actress's delivery was pure 2009, rather than the period delivery the other actors use. Her mannerisms, tones of voice, posture, etc. didn't look (as the others' do) like they stepped off a 1963 screen. Now, maybe that was intentional. Maybe we were meant to see Suzanne as being free of the societal restrictions the others buy into. But if that's the case, it just didn't work for me; it took me out of the moment.

By: B.Cooper

B.Cooper — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:26:28 +0000

Another way to interpret Suzanne, another lens, if you will, is that she's that character that always speaks the truth, without fear of its consequences. This is why she connects with Sally so much, who as we see during the season, is a one-girl Greek Chorus.

- She confronts Sally's behavior in school by addressing it with Don and Betty (Betty's reaction was to run, if you remember);
- Her response to Don during the eclipse is ballsy, but ultimately spot-on (MW confirmed he was indeed hitting on her);
- She says it's going to end badly but proceeds anyway (okay, we all knew that one);
- When her brother comes, her instinct is not to hide Don but bring him out, no matter the awkwardness;
- Confronting Don on the train was extremely brazen, and yes, nutty, but honest.

Point being, I think this character was drawn to show the opposite end of the spectrum. Everyone lies. Suzanne never lies. But of course lying is not always 100% evil. And truth-telling is not always 100% virtuous.

But the character bridges the gap between the black-and-white world of childhood and the complicated nature of adulthood.

Now, I'm no more of a fan of Suzanne's now than I was before. I think they kind of botched the execution of this character, and you can't write chemistry.

But if we step back and connect some dots, I think she serves a purpose, bringing the action of the others into relief.

By: SFCaramia

SFCaramia — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:38:31 +0000

Nyna–Re class in America. You're absolutely right, and you see it being played out in the last episode of Season 3 between Don and Betty. While there are many other issues that sank their marriage, I don't think it was an accident that in the final denouement between Don and Betty one of the reasons Betty ultimately chooses to leave Don apres-confession, is not just because she doesn't "love him anymore" but because her version of "love" is so shallow that ultimately, his humble beginnings, don't sit well with her. His admission of poverty is one of the final wrecking balls to her picture-perfect life, and MW is none to subtle about emphasizing that point by having Don say words to the effect that he was never "good" enough" for Betty; i.e., his "pedigree" was too out of sync with hers. You can say whatever you will about all the other issues that are at play in their breakup, but that class distinction issue is definitely there. Class in America is the dirty secret, our so-called "egalitarian" society won't acknowledge. And, believe me, what you're saying about the educational system is true; I taught school for five years, and, even though I know many will disagree with me, class trumps race almost every time.

By: Suzanne Mills

Suzanne Mills — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:33:24 +0000

Anne B. Very well stated. There was something real and even ground about Rachel. They were two connected souls – maybe simply by virtue of their "disconnecteness" in society. Don's relationship with Bobby, on the other hand, always seemed to me to be just a physical connect -but there was never sympathy or misunderstanding about who that character was. Don's relationship w/Suzanne was a complete disconnect….

By: Nyna

Nyna — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:05:26 +0000

SFCaramia:
Too true. She is cloying. I see this going either way next season. Her use as a plot device could have been to remind Don of how hard life was/is, and to offer a juxtaposition to the protected Betty who (from his perspective) has the nerve to not love him anymore. That type of perceived rejection is one thing which could have created the horrible anger in the last episode wherein physical violence was a very real possibility between D & B. America is rife with class issues; even more than race or gender. The sociologist Richard Sennett unmasks this regularly in his books even though on the surface he's studying busing in the school system, etc. BUT, I digress.

By: SFCaramia

SFCaramia — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:35:59 +0000

P.S. An addendum: When I think of Suzanne, the word "cloying" as opposed to "vulnerability" comes to mind. Maybe because she seems to portray the former rather than the latter is what bugs me. "Vulnerabilty" is something I can embrace, as we all have experience it, no matter how hardened the outer shell. If we're honest, we all can admit we're all just boys and girls at heart, not matter how sophisticated. "Cloying," however, is annoying.

By: SFCaramia

SFCaramia — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:31:02 +0000

Nyna–Great post. It's like I said earlier, you've encapsulated all the reasons I should feel for Suzanne. I have/am–although to a lesser extent now that I've gained a certain wisdom–ha!– been in her shoes. And yet, she just left me cold, and based on the comments from Jon Hamm and others, this was something the MM camp didn't anticipate.Maybe it is indeed because her vulnerability is so naked, and it hurts to see it exposed; I just don't know. It's fascinating question to dissect I think we'll be doing it all off-season. Will be interesting to see if she returns in Season 4; however, as others have suggested, I think she was a plot device, and now that Don's single and in the city, I suspect he will move on.

By: Nyna

Nyna — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:43:44 +0000

I posted early on in this blog, but I feel compelled to say again that Don and Suzanne recognize themselves in each other, most specifically their hardscrabble younger lives. I think that we have the luxury in 2009 of feeling disdain for the not fully liberated (whatever that means….) woman of that era. I understand Suzanne pretty well, and the writing in her episodes didn't impede that at all. I'm not a writer and probably shouldn't have been posting here, but, nonetheless, it is clear to me that she:
1) Is a working woman in one of the few professions open to her at the time.
2) Needs the money merely to live; not an middle/upper class protectee like Betty Draper.
3) Has dysfunctional family like we all do, including Betty Draper, but has to share limited resources with them.
4) Has a form of what we often see today in single women approaching a certain age: physical fitness neuroses, crushes on men they can't have or might be wounded by (Nickel Freud again…..) borne of low self-esteem.
5) And she drinks in an unhealthy manner, rather than going out to "the bar" with the girls which, only stewardesses and other loose women did then, certainly not school teachers.
I could go on, but the point is that her behavior is her own acting out of the same repressions that all of the characters deal with in their own ways; she's just not appealing because of her fears and vulnerabilities. Don picked up on it right away and that's where the "People like you" comment comes from – she's going to be an easy lay, but he gets surprised instead. I say again, perhaps coming down on LOM's side, we just don't like what she represents, and the twist is that Don sees all of the terrifying obstacles he had to overcome in his background in her situation, understands it, and feels at home with it. My two cents.